Author: Alan MacKenzie “It's important to be humble and understand that there are always great challenges ahead of you”, Björn Hugosson, Stockholm’s chief climate officer, says. Since 1990, the city has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds, alongside a growing population and economy. But even with more than 30 years of climate action behind them, the city is still being challenged – and challenging itself – to do better. Following the award of one of the first ten ‘Mission Labels’ from the EU, which recognises the strength of the city's plans to reach climate neutrality by the end of [...]

Author: Elisa Abrantes The Pilot Cities programme is set to scale up with a second cohort of 26 European cities. This brings the total number of participating municipalities to 79, all of which are working to develop innovative solutions for rapid decarbonisation. The third and final call to join the PCP is now open and will soon increase this number even further. The goal of generating groundbreaking solutions is matched by a robust focus on learning within the Pilot Cities Programme. Particular emphasis is placed on collective learning entailing the pooling of diverse perspectives to create shared understandings. This collaborative [...]

Author: Elisa Abrantes Over 50 European cities are just short of a quarter of the way through their two-year Pilot City Programme experience, and more EU Mission Cities recently applied to be part of the second cohort, to accelerate their efforts to achieve climate neutrality. Cities that are part of the programme receive an EU grant and support from the NetZeroCities platform over a two-year period to test innovative pathways to climate neutrality, aimed at overcoming entrenched and systemic barriers to change in their context. The Pilot Cities Programme is the main way in which [...]

Author: Barbara Jarkiewicz Krakow, alongside several other prominent Polish cities, is dedicated to achieving climate neutrality through the EU’s Mission of “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030”, with support from NetZeroCities. Within the framework of the EU’s Cities Mission, these urban centres are diligently crafting their unique Climate City Contracts, which will serve as comprehensive blueprints for their individualised climate strategies. Warsaw, Rzeszów, Łódź, Wrocław and Krakow are also taking part in the NetZeroCitiesPilot CitiesProgramme. The cities have joined forces under the NEEST project to develop their Pilot Activity - a practical retrofit tool to curb emissions from buildings. [...]